g'day folks it's rob here and welcome to
our backyard farm in today's clip I'm
going to be answering a question I get a
lot of one of our other clips when is it
the best time to pick my head of
broccoli now these guys here are nowhere
near being ready for harvests have only
got tiny little Bubba heads on them but
I've got a couple of plants out the
front with some largest heads that I can
use is a bit of an example for you folks
it might help you out I'm also going to
just quickly cover some pointers and
tips that'll help you folks out who
haven't grown broccoli and want to have
a crack at that as well so you can skip
ahead if you like so without any more
narrowing on will duck out the front and
I'll give you a look at these fantastic
broccoli so as you can hear we're out
the front now and this is my little
broccoli patch we've got little patches
set up all around the property here now
we have three plants we have one plain
over the back there with that nice large
head on it we have another plant you can
probably see the stem down there we
harvested that head last week and we
have this plant here we've been
harvesting a fair bit of over the last
couple of weeks it's got a couple of
heads that need to come off today now
this plant over here as you can see as
their central head has already been
harvested and this is one of the side
shoots so even though this isn't the
main head it will give you some idea on
what to look for when it comes time to
harvest your broccoli
so with this broccoli here what we've
got is some of the little bud sections
starting to move away from the central
head itself when the kids were younger
we used to call them little trees
because it looks a bit like that from
underneath
now the optimal time to harvest your
broccoli so you get the most crunches
head you can is just as this starts to
happen you'll know that the heads as
large as it's going to get and you're
going to have it at as crunchiest at its
peak basically so that's when we
generally lop them off all these little
tiny buds down in here there are
actually little flower buds now if you
leave the heads on and they continue to
mature the little florets will grow even
longer and you'll end up what looks like
small little broccolini shoots from
there you'll get the odd one or two that
will bloom into flowers those flowers by
the way are totally edible and we use
them in salads all the time in fact
heads like this that start to divide
when you cut them up small enough they
make an awesome little green salad with
a couple of other veggies throwing in
some capsicum Xand carrots and whatnot
another thing I like about them when
they go a little bit lanky like this is
you end up with
longer stems so something like this is
ideal for the chicken soup that we make
just a basic little chicken and
vegetable soup with a couple of Asian
flavorings in them we just put these raw
in the bowl and then we pull the soup
over the top tastes absolutely fantastic
those four other parts the stem and you
can eat the stem all the way down to the
main stem itself you can cut it up fine
you can throw it in your stir-fry you
can throw it in your soups you can dice
it up or shred it and pop it in salads
it's actually a very versatile plant and
I do know a lot of people who will eat
the leaves we have eaten the small
leaves when they're about that size when
they get a little bit larger they get a
little bit tough and a little bit bitter
but when they're that size we have fret
of them up and out of them into salads
before so all in all it's one of those
plants that you pretty much will eat all
of it and there is no right and wrong
when it comes to harvesting it because
even if you do let the heads bolt you
can still make something out of these
loose little sections and the flowers so
I wouldn't be concerned at all if you
don't pick your heads when they're at
their peak just before we move on if you
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come along say g'day and check out what
we're doing now as for growing broccoli
itself well it does really like the
fairly moderate temperature range its
optimal range being between 16 and 24
degrees Celsius which is roughly 60 to
75 Fahrenheit from memory now for us
here in the subtropical region of
Australia in southeast Queensland that
means we get to grow out through autumn
winter and then into spring as well
sowing the seeds out is fairly easy I
grab a good quality seed raising mix or
make up my own if I've got the bits and
pieces on hand dig a little hole about 6
mil or fort of an inch deep pop in a
couple of seeds cover them back up and
then make sure the soils kept moist and
away you go now in the cold climates it
does make sense to try and get a
jumpstart on your season by sowing them
out inside or in a warmish greenhouse in
your flats or planets or pots or however
you like to do it about three to four
weeks before your last frost date that
just gives you a little bit
a head start on your ceilings amongst
things start to warm up and your last
frost States past you can transplant
that out into the patch now if you're in
a warmer climate like our own a good
idea I think is to probably start them
off in the same sort of containers trays
pallets flats however you like to do it
in a good quality seedling mix probably
about a month before summer ends in a
nice cool shaded part of your yard that
way once things start to cool down you
can then transplant you're already semi
advanced seedlings out into a well fed
dead now as for the bed prep itself what
I like to do is I like to rake over
about 2 inches or 5 centimeters of
compost or will broken down horse or cow
manure over the top of the bed I like to
pop a nice handful of quality castings
or compost into the hole the plant will
be placed into the plant goes in I firm
it down nicely into the soil because I
find they start off better that way give
it a quick top dress with some more
compost and away you go
as for spacing well you've seen in this
bed here I actually do crowd them in a
fair bit but generally speaking 30 to 50
centimeters or what's that about a foot
to a foot and a half apart and that will
give you a nice spacing between the
plants because different varieties can
actually grow while the large leaf wise
now broccoli do like to be kept well
hydrated so I make sure the soil is nice
and moist but never sopping wet
something that's very easy to achieve in
these self watering wicking beds that we
like to grow in as for fertilizing as
long as you've started the bed off with
a nice good feed you're pretty much full
right until about a month into their
their growing cycle then I like to give
a little bit of a scattering of compost
just around the the roots of the plants
or if you don't have any compost in hand
maybe some slow released organic based
fertilizer pellets will help I also do
like to give them a liquid feed after
that every two to three weeks just to
keep the the plants nice and healthy
while they're producing the main head
and then after that the side shoots now
time to harvest will vary between
varieties and also your climatic
conditions my favorite is Carl Brizzi
and it generally tends to give us the
main head
anywhere up to about two to three months
we start to see the nice head form and
then after that tothis did like you saw
we get decide shoot after side shoot but
it will depend on your variety I've seen
some that will mature faster than that
seventy-five days at the longest and
others that will take anywhere up to 120
so there's a bit of a look at when it's
the best time to pick your broccoli if
you wanted at its peak crunchiness and
for you folks who haven't had a crack at
growing broccoli before boast it's will
come in handy it is a very easy plant to
grow and you know if you follow the easy
steps you'll end up with some luscious
productive green ladies like these girls
behind me also to a quick g'day and
thanks to the marvelous folks over on
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I do hope everyone's gardens are booming
and aquaponic systems too if you've got
one on the go and I will catch you
wonderful folks next clip
cheers all have a top one
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